Stalwart Admiral Harriman Nelson (Richard Basehart), a brilliant marine scientist, and equally stalwart Captain Lee Crane (David Hedison), his handsome junior, are with Lt. Commander Chip Morton (Robert Dowdell) and seaman Kowalski (Del Monroe, the only carryover from the movie) joined by two new crew members: Stuart Riley (Allan Hunt), a stereotypical surfer dude; and Chief Sharkey (Terry Becker, his character not to be confused with C.P.O. Sharkey), his character basically replacing that played by actor Henry Kulky, who died the previous season.

Set in the near future of the mid-1970s, the crew of the Seaview battle Russian, Chinese, and other Iron Curtain spies, monsters from outer space, and all manner of extraordinary marine life, aided by high-tech gadgets that would make MI5's "Q-Branch" green with envy. (The James Bond phenomenon peaked during this season, and its influence on Voyage scripts is palpable.)

Fox's latest half-season set offers the year's first 13 of 26 shows, book-ended by two of the series' best. In "Jonah and the Whale," Admiral Nelson and a Russian scientist (played by Gia Scala) watch helplessly as their diving bell is swallowed whole by a colossal sperm whale. Anticipating Fox's Fantastic Voyage, released 11 months later, Captain Crane leads a rescue mission through the whale's body, hoping to reach the stranded pair before they run out of oxygen. The episode is a riot of color and special effects razzle-dazzle. Though the whale's insides admittedly resemble a cavern of psychedelically-lit balloons, by 1965 TV standards the episode's production values are essentially unprecedented, with scads of elaborate miniature and optical shots, perhaps the largest number ever attempt in a one-hour drama up to that point.

The last episode of the set, "The Monster from Outer Space," is similarly lavish, a cross between Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Thing (from Another World), with Nelson and Sharkey desperate to stop a shape-shifting whatsit that has already taken control of the minds of the rest of the crew. Though again the monster is more than a trifle silly, the show is unexpectedly unsettling and exciting from beginning to end.

That last attribute is rare because for whatever Irwin Allen's qualities as a producer, as a story editor he sucked eggs. It's a shame a Robert Justman or Joseph Stefano were never broad aboard to develop the show's scripts because they're definitely the series' weakest link. Common to most episodes is that they start out full of promise and offer exciting first acts but then tend to peter out during the last 15 minutes, often killing time with redundant action.

On the other hand, Allen avoids something he did with every other series he ever produced: on Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants Allen had a very strong tendency to shoot his wad on the pilot and his season openers, resulting in a dearth of funds for the rest of the season. Production values-wise these shows all start out great, but then cheap out within just a few episodes. The Time Tunnel's pilot, for instance, has some great special effects and the time tunnel itself is quite spectacular, but the remaining shows shamelessly recycle stock footage from Fox's vast film library while the same three or four soundstages the series used are redressed ad infinitum.

For Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea's second year, however, a great deal of money was spent on new sets and special effects, as well a superb new (albeit quickly scuttled) title theme by Jerry Goldsmith, and the benefits are spread out at least over the first-half of the second season. The Seaview's bridge, which in Year One was cramped more like a real sub but in so doing offered a limited variety of camera angles, has been completely redesigned, while in an effort to get characters from place-to-place more efficiently, the show's famous Flying Sub has been introduced. Resembling a yellow manta ray, it's lowered from the Seaview's underbelly and, engines revved, shoots out of the water like a Patriot Missile. (It glides along wires in the tried-and-true Lydecker method perfected in Republic's serials, though emerging from the water is tends to wobble like a flimsy kite.)

Although the series was popular, one guesses that the show's wealth of resources at least partly can be attributed to the rapid dissemination of color television in prime time during the 1965-66 season. This was a factor in getting and keeping Star Trek on the air, and seems true of Voyage as well. Nobody cared much whether The Lucy Show was in color or not, but Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea's shock of primary colors probably helped sell a lot of color TVs.

Video & Audio

The worst thing you could say about Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea's transfers is to say that it's a shame that Fox didn't put anywhere near this much effort into their Lost in Space DVDs, among the feeblest-looking transfers ever. By contrast, Season Two of Voyage is another stellar job: the clarity of the image and brightness of the color is near-flawless, despite the use of double-sided discs, some of which cram four 50-minute shows onto a single side. Indeed, the picture quality is so good that sharp-eyed viewers will notice that some of the steel hatches are in fact carved wood covered with myriad layers of silver paint, or spot the guide wires the Flying Sub glide upon. The shows are not edited or time-compressed and this reviewer experienced no problems playing the discs. Episodes are offered in both their original mono and a (imperceptible) stereo remix; the audio on some shows show age-related wear. A Spanish mono track is included, as well as optional English and Spanish subtitles, though nothing in French. Extra Features

Supplements included 22 minutes worth of raw Special Effects Footage (with no audio), some of it from later seasons and a lot of it repetitive. A Still Gallery includes choice concept art, episodic photos (mostly from Season 1), publicity photos, and a nicely presented reprint of a March 1966 Mad Magazine parody, "Voyage to See What's on the Bottom," which each panel given its own still frame, enabling viewers to easily read the text and savor the good-natured ribbing.

Parting Thoughts

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea has been one of the great, gee-whiz rediscoveries on DVD this year, and Season 2, Volume 1 is the best set so far. Highly recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is a Kyoto-based film historian whose work includes Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! The Incredible World of Japanese Fantasy Films and Taschen's forthcoming Cinema Nippon, due out next year.